ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Saturday opened the first Armenian Orthodox church in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

It has has been built and supervised by the KRG’s Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs and is located in the district of Ankawa, an area known for having a predominantly Christian population.

In a special ceremony attended by KRG officials and foreign envoys, the house of prayer was initiated.

“The opening of this church itself is laying another foundation stone for a peaceful coexistence of different ethnic and religious groups in the Kurdistan Region,” Safeen Dizayee, the spokesperson of the KRG present to represent Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani at the observance, told Kurdistan 24.

He stated that the culture of tolerance and coexistence is not a political decision, but it rather has deep cultural roots in Kurdistan. Dizayee also said he hoped that displaced Christians could return to their homes in the Kurdistan Region and areas with diverse populations outside Mosul known as the Nineveh Plains.

It is the first Armenian orthodox church to be opened in Erbil. (Photo: Khalid Jamal Albert)

The Kurdistan Region is home for over 120,000 Christians, distributed throughout the different provinces but with the majority living in Erbil and Duhok. Following the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq in 2014, most were displaced to areas administered by the KRG, while others fled abroad.

The autonomous region has a unicameral parliamentary legislature with 111 seats, with five quota seats each reserved for Turkmen and Christian parties and one seat specifically set aside for a member of an Armenian party.

The Kurdistan national flag flies over the Erbil Citadel in the autonomous Kurdish region. (Photo: AFP)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The autonomous Kurdistan Region will remain as a center for brotherhood and peaceful coexistence between different ethnic and religious groups, a senior Kurdish leader affirmed on Sunday.

The Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), Masrour Barzani, on Sunday received a delegation of Armenian bishops from across the world.

They discussed the current situation of displaced Christians in the Kurdistan Region and Nineveh Plains, stressing the need to provide better living conditions to accommodate their return home, according to the KRSC press office.

Barzani called on Christians to remain strong and stay in their homeland to prevent any efforts aimed at diminishing their identity and alter the demographics of their ancestral land. He emphasized the support of the Kurdistan Region for the rights and demands of Christians in the Kurdistan Region in general and Armenians in particular.

Barzani, who is also elected by his leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to head the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet as a Prime Minister, stated that the Kurdistan Region takes to heart its established culture of coexistence and tolerance, deeply rooted in the region throughout history.

“Kurdistan will always remain a center of brotherhood and peaceful coexistence between all the ethnic and religious groups,” Barzani said, according to the KRSC press office.

The delegates commended the autonomous region for being a safe haven for Iraqi Christians in the past.

The meeting came one day after the opening of the first Armenian Orthodox church in Erbil.

The Kurdistan Region is home to over 120,000 Christians, distributed throughout the different provinces, with the majority living in Erbil and Duhok. Following the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq in 2014, most were displaced to areas administered by the KRG, while others fled abroad.

The autonomous region has a unicameral parliamentary legislature with 111 seats, with five quota seats each reserved for Turkmen and Christian parties and one seat specifically set aside for a member of an Armenian party.

Armenian Orthodox Christians who fled sectarian violence in northern Iraq for the comparative security of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil can finally pray in their own place of worship.

The Church of the Holy Cross opened its doors on April 6 in a special ceremony attended by Armenian Orthodox clergy, including the Primate of the Armenian Diocese of Iraq Avak Asadourian, diplomats, and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials.

The KRG paid for the church’s construction at a cost of 2.2 billion IQD ($1,845,000).

Four of the Kurdistan Region’s five Armenian Orthodox Churches are in Duhok province. An estimated 600 Armenian families live in the Kurdistan Region – 490 of them in Duhok and 110 in Erbil.

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Ambassador of Armenia to Iraq Hrachya Poladian and Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council in Iraqi Kurdistan Masrour Barzani have emphasized the necessity of development of historically formed relations between the Armenian and Kurdish people.

According to the Armenian MFA, the sides exchanged ideas on deepening bilateral trade relations and agreed to continue communication.

Hrachya Poladian expressed his gratitude for the free land, provided to the Armenian community by Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as for construction of the Church of the Holy Cross in Erbil (consecration held on April 6) accomplished with the government’s financial support.

At the meeting with Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, Head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Department of Foreign Relations, the sides touched upon the possibility of opening Consulate General of Armenia to Erbil.